It looked so good I begged her to put it on again (and we are talking four hours of makeup and dressing). But she agreed and I made a Qunari so we could get some photos together.

This were a really fast cosplay, because we decided that we were gonna do this like two days before a convention. So I used what I have and what I know - recycle :DMost Qunari designs I looked at showed their tummy, I don't really do that (comfort zone and such). But I was working on a Lady Sif corset at the time which works both in colors and aesthetics for Qunari armor. For more about hoe I make corset take a look here.

I had the necklace from my Morrigan costume already, see here for how that was made. For shoulder armor I folded black fabric and sewed it together in an overlapping pattern. The chest bind were also just black fabric with gold bias tape draped around by chest. (no pattern, just trial and error)

A costume is in the details ;) The Inquisition emblem was a house warming gift from Karin Olava - Now used to hold my sash together. I also borrowed her staff for this cosplay, which just happened to be in my apartment (still is). So much easier to pose when you have a prop.

My sister had a white wig from a Kida cosplay which she let me restyle as I felt like.

The only new thing for this cosplay was the horns (and the makeup). The horns are made from tin foil wrapped with masking tape and then the details were added with a glue gun. I used a sponge to to the gradient effect from light to dark grey. Here is another tutorial for how to make horns.

Want to show off your new prop, but the photo doesn't do it justice! Fear not there are tons of tutorials out there for how to use your camera, the light and the scenery. Check out some of these also: tastyjazzy, thirteenthoughts and thejunebride

Me on the other hand usually have very little time and often only my mobile camera at hand.

So this is what I do when I can fine the perfect forest or castle to compliments my props.

In short this is what you need:

- a backdrop

- several light sources

- a camera and something to rest the camera on.

The backdrop is easy. I just bought plain white wrapping paper.

To easily hang up the backdrop I taped clips to the wall.

Backdrop is up, time for lights. Natural light is always the best, but I live in Norway, we don't have that for half of the year. You should have at least two light sources with possibilities to dim and diffuse. Direct light creates sharp shadows.

Let me show the difference it makes.1. Here are my easter eggs on the floor with no backdrop. Even with a white wall behind you would have a line where wall meets floor.

2. With the backdrop you get an even color from the floor to the wall.

3. And by cropping the image you can get a decent photo without Photoshop and with only a mobile phone camera.

mandag 20. april 2015

Before I made the Demon Hunter cosplay I made a test crossbow out of cardboard to get to know the design. Which I again could use with my Dragon Warrior.

I started with some cardboard and foam.

To even out the shape I covered it all in tin foil.

Then it is time for cardboard again. Layers folded around the base.

The skull ornament is made from paper clay. Same goes for the tips of the bow.

Foam and tape makes the handle and the core of my tin foil roll makes out the shaft. (I later shortened the handle as it looked too much like an umbrella handle)

The shaft was also covered with cardboard scales. And I had to add a few LED for the eyes and mouth.

Next up painting and detailing. The arrow is made out of a chopstick, the head out of cardboard. Feathers were glued to the end of the arrow :)The entire bow was painted metallic grey and weathered using dark acrylic paint. The string is only and elastic band.

The handle is foam with cardboard for support, then covered in faux leather.

Since i knew I would have to hide a battery and still be able to change it, I made a way to unscrew the bottom of the staff. This I did by adding a bottle to the end, and attaching the endpiece to the cork.

The endpiece is quite larger than the cork so I build up using the rest of my bottle and padding it with foam.

After the volume is created I start with tin foil and clay to build up the shape of the ornamented endpiece.

All shaped out, ready for sanding.

Since this piece would be the resting point of the staff (eg. touching the floor and holdeing the weight) I covered it with worbla to make it more durable.

Lights!

With the bottle mechanism in plase I can now start addind lights.

The staff will have three small gems sticking out in the middle, a glowing orb and a orange gem on the top. Here are the placements of the lights befor adding the bling.

The three smaller gems are just made from hotglue packed around the LED. This will diffuse the light. You can also use polymorph or a resin gem, but this was a fast and easy way to get them in place.

The glowing orb is made from an acrylic sphere which I sanded down to diffuse the lights inside. I used a dremel to cut out holes so it will fit to the staff base.

Light test without paint.

To get the color and pattern I painted the orb on the inside with acrylic paint and used a marker for the symbols.

More light tests in dark and light room.

The last gem was made from a resin cast. I used a two part silicon putty to make mold of a generic diamond shape. Then I used Crystal clear resin to cast a flat gem shape.

Staff skeleton.

With foam I build up the basic shape of the staff.

Tin foil and clay was used to make some of the more defined parts. These were sanded down and covered in worbla.

When the body of the staff was ready every detail were covered with worbla. This makes it much easier to add more worbla details later (as worbla glues to itself very well). And make the staff itself more sturdy. Here I have base painted the staff in a brown base color using acrylic paint.

With a vintage gold paint and a sponge I slowly add details to the top. The gem is painted red with glass paint from the back side.

And with blue, grey and silver paint I added the rest of the details.

The stem of the staff has a wood texture. This is created with glue from a hot glue gun. Strips of blue cloth were added.

All about me:

Hello, I’m Christina also known as Chrix Design. I’m a software tester by day, costume maker by night. Most of my life I have been a little "know it all" and very creative. This evolved into me being a science nerd as a child as well as I sewed my own Barbie clothes. In the end I got a Master’s degree in Industrial design engineering. My childhood was also full of video games and my first prop came together mainly because I wanted a Portal Gun over my fireplace. I exploited every occasion to dress up and loved making more and more original costumes. It wasn't until 2011 I heard about cosplay, where had it been all my life! I got so many friends with the same passions for games, costumes, craft and books as me. After this I had no more spare time, there was always a costume to build a tutorial to write and new friends to meet. But I won’t say no to a round of Halo, an evening of board games or watching old Disney movies.
You can contact me at chrix.design.props@gmail.com or via my facebook page.